Temple Works

Temple Works

Facade of the Temple Works office block
Flax
Architectural style	Egyptian
Structural system	Largest single room in the world when built
Location	Holbeck, Leeds
Construction
Built	1836
Employees	2600 (1840)
Decommissioned	1886
Floor count	1
Main contractor	Marshall and Co.
Design team
Architect	Joseph Bonomi the Younger
Structural engineer	James Combe
Other designers	David Roberts
Power
Date	1840
Engine maker	B. Hick and Son
Engine type	Two cylinder beam engine
Valve Gear	Double ended slide valves
rpm	19
Flywheel diameter	26ft (7.9m)
Other Equipment	7000 Spindles
Designations Listed Building – Grade I

Temple Works is a former flax mill in Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was designed by engineer James Combe a former pupil of John Rennie,David Roberts, architect Joseph Bonomi the Younger and built in the Egyptian style by John Marshall between 1836 and 1840 with a 240 hp double beam engine by Benjamin Hick (B. Hick and Son). Temple Works is the only Grade I listed building in Holbeck.

By 1842 John Marshall owned four mills in Holbeck known as Mills B to E, Mill A having been demolished in 1837. The early 1830s had been a time of great prosperity for the firm after the introduction of the wet spinning process in 1829, the transition to which took five years to complete. John Marshall's four sons had all entered the business, but increasingly he relied on his son James concerning the manufacturing side. The firm's competitors in Leeds were all prospering and had built or had plans to build sizeable new mills. The firm at that time specialised in making fine yarns, principally for the French market, but this was starting to decline. Therefore, James Marshall decided upon a programme of diversification into thread and cloth manufacture. This decision to diversify required an extension to the manufacturing facility in Holbeck. James had two alternative plans, another six storey mill on the site of the demolished Mill A in Water Lane, or a single storey building extending from Mill C in Marshall Street south to the junction with Sweet Street. He compared the cost of the two mills and calculated the single storey structure would cost £24,000, about 15% cheaper than a comparable six storey building. The new building was modelled at one third the full size in the yard of Mill C. James persuaded his father, then in semi-retirement, that the single storey mill should be built. A Mr Smith had already built the first single storey cotton mill in Deanston, near Stirling, but Messrs. Marshall planned a much larger and complete specimen.